Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been very clear about what she thinks of Donald Trump: He is neither sponge-worthy nor White House–worthy. As host of the Democratic Convention’s final night back in August, she joked that the president would soon be calling her “‘a washed-up, horse-face, no-talent has-been with low ratings.’ Well, with all due respect, sir, it takes one to know one,” she quipped.

Louis-Dreyfus has thrown her weight behind Democratic candidates and progressive issues for years—endorsing Al Gore, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, working for environmental causes, speaking out about Trump’s travel ban (“it is a blemish and it is un-American”), and rallying support against gerrymandering. The former Seinfeld and Veep star found creative ways to raise money for swing state campaigns during this election, including reuniting the Veep cast to raise money for Wisconsin Democrats. 

Giving it one last big push during these fraught final weeks, Louis-Dreyfus has marshaled her former Seinfeld colleagues (or some of them, at any rate) for a Zoom reunion. This Friday at 8 p.m. ET at txdem.co/Something, Louis-Dreyfus joins with Jason Alexander and Larry David for “A Fundraiser About Something,” a live-streamed session in which the three—plus host Seth Meyers and some unnamed special guests—will reminisce about favorite Seinfeld episodes in return for a donation.

Seinfeld was a gleefully apolitical comedy fixated on the trivial minutiae of everyday life, which might be one reason that 30 years after premiering, it still feels relatively timeless. (Well, apart from Elaine’s hair, Jerry’s and George’s casual wear, and a handful of genuinely cringe-making moments.) A firm believer that politics “has no shelf life” in comedy, Jerry Seinfeld is absent from the fundraiser.

“I think that Larry and Jason and I have been very politically active during this period of time, and it just felt like a better fit,” Louis-Dreyfus explains by phone. It was also organizationally easier to keep things small: “I had the idea just a couple of days ago, and then it was just like, Ahhh! How do we do this?” she howls. “I’m happy we did it, and I think it’ll be super fun to just go down memory lane as a group.”

Seinfeld references still ring through American pop culture, whether it’s Louis-Dreyfus and Alexander comparing Trump’s dancing to Elaine’s , or ordinary people talking about Seinfeldiana like Festivus and significant shrinkage. Just over the last couple of days, the controversies over Jeffrey Toobin and Rudy Giuliani inspired fans to dig up clips from the season five episode in which Elaine confides about a date who exposed himself in front of her. Flawless in its comic timing, the dialogue (“he took it out”) extracts much of its amusement by its deft evasion of the word “penis” (forbidden due to network prudishness) in favor of the euphemistic “it.”  The episode perfectly encapsulates the current conversation on the Toobin situation. Empathizing with the date and his errant member, Kramer, for instance, offers, “Maybe it just needed some air.”

“What is wrong with these men and their penises?” Louis-Dreyfus says now, indignantly, about the recent news. “Can they not keep their penises in their pants? It is the strangest phenomenon. And you know, it’s not the first time it’s happened—clearly not, because there was a scene about it in Seinfeld 25 years ago! And Elaine was as baffled and repulsed by it then, as we are now.”

That scene reminded me of what an idiosyncratic character Elaine Benes was, a crucial element of the show’s chemistry. Although Elaine did not overtly identify as a feminist—the idea would have ruffled feathers in the 1990s—Louis-Dreyfus says, “She was very aggressive...not as in hostile or belligerent, but, you know: get into the conversation, be assertive, run for office, lead the world! That’s how I feel, and I think Elaine was like that to a certain extent. She wasn’t a particularly noble-minded person, but her approach to life as a woman was strong, unapologetic.”

Although Louis-Dreyfus does not usually sit around binging Seinfeld episodes, she watched a bunch this week—“The Pen,” “The Mango,” and “Soup Nazi”—in order to pick out a favorite to discuss for the fundraiser. “It was tremendous fun to look back, and sort of bizarre—like going through a photo album from your life 20, 30 years ago” she says. “They definitely seem antiquated to a certain extent, like the big walk-around phones with the antenna.… So much has changed since then. But the jokes themselves, they hold up.”

With the election less than a fortnight away, Louis-Dreyfus says she’s managing her anxiety by “coming up with ways to support Democrats as best I can. It’s definitely helpful because you don’t feel as if you’re somehow paralyzed.” She’s been focused on the issue of gerrymandering because, she says, “I think you have to play the long game here. And so what that means is not just top of the ballot, even though God knows that is unbelievably important, but down ballot—you could make a solid argument that is equally important, because it affects the political landscape for the next 10 years or whatever. And in Texas, for example, we have an opportunity to turn that state legislature blue. And if that’s the case, we get a seat at the table when it comes to redistricting. And that’s really, really hyper critical.”

When I ask Louis-Dreyfus what her Seinfeld alter ego would be doing during the 2020 election (other than eye-rolling about guys who “take it out”), she pauses to think. “I know she would not be a Trump supporter, that’s for sure. And I would hope that she would be on the right side of history. I have reason to think that she would be, just because—” Louis-Dreyfus says with a gale of laughter, “I played her!”

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